The land that time forgot

The ACT Government wants to source 200 megawatts of energy from wind farms to add to its recently announced 50 megawatt solar farm.

Its stated intention is to have 90 per cent of ACT electricity generation from so-called ‘renewable’ sources by 2020, although the wind farms will be in NSW. Why shouldn’t the wind farms line Mugga Way?

I’ve argued before that Canberra can be used for natural experiments, although it must be isolated from subsidies to give full effect to its decisions. Tasmania is another good location for natural experiments. But as Peter Costello argued yesterday, Tasmania is insulated from its poor decisions by Commonwealth subsidies.

This is the same administration that wants to build a silly light rail along Northbourne Avenue. Let’s hope that the costs of this folly are imposed entirely on ACT ratepayers and do not spill over to the Commonwealth.

At this rate, Canberra will really be the land that time forgot. The Greens and ACT Labor are dinosaurs. The black outs seen in Darwin may well be a regular occurrence in the national capital. Perhaps the Federal Government should build a small nuclear reactor to power the Parliamentary triangle and have it installed near the ACT Legislative Assembly.

I’ve argued before that Canberra can be used for natural experiments, although it must be isolated from subsidies to give full effect to its decisions. Tasmania is another good location for natural experiments. But as Peter Costello argued yesterday, Tasmania is insulated from its poor decisions by Commonwealth subsidies.

This really is the nub of the issue.
I’m going to use this line “although it must be isolated from subsidies to give full effect to its decisions.” every chance I can.
I will agree with every hair brained scheme a Greenie puts forward on the proviso they do not use government subsidies to fund it.

Fully support using the ACT as a place to try out all the green thought bubbles. Just don’t let the rest of us pay for it. If it works then we can roll it out across the country. If it doesn’t then c’est la vie.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it… why do we even have an ACT parliament? They exist by an act of Federal parliament and should have their existence extinguished by that same parliament. Give them back to NSW. Just keep the parliamentary precinct as a separate entity.

They are a waste of space, oxygen and money. A glorified local council that attracts even bigger, self important nitwits than local councils do (and they set the bar for nitwits).

Perhaps the Federal Government should build a small nuclear reactor to power the Parliamentary triangle and have it installed near the ACT Legislative Assembly.

No no no. A thousand times no. Support the purchase of a Capstone gas turbine that would provide the Parliament all the power it needs and then some. I own the stock and it’s ripping higher and higher. I bought “Cappie” in the low ones and now it’s at 2.20.

When in doubt always buy a Capstone turbine.

In fact home owners are buying the small versions too. I’m not kidding, this stock could get to 25 bucks in my opinion. They’re finally breaking even, hence the move higher. If they look as though they could make 250 million or so in the next 5 years it’s a 25 buck stock.

Seriously SJ, if they get to grow revenues like a tech stock and stabilize the burn rate, which they did last quarter, the market will re-rate as a growth stock causing it to punch much much higher.

And there is a really good story to tell here, as micro turbines are catching on because of low gas prices. You could have one of these in your home in the basement and tap into it when gas prices fall low enough to burn it and convert to gas.

This is the same administration that wants to build a silly light rail along Northbourne Avenue.

ACT Labor never actually promised to build light rail.
They promised to commission a feasibility study into light rail.
That’s not the same thing at all: one involves building actual rail, the other involves printing a few glossy reports.

I haven’t gone that far to closely examine the reasons. My guess is that it was caught up in the high tech boom and flaked it burning money all the way until investors tired. What it didn’t have then but has now, is loads of gas… bundles of it. They supply the oil &gas industry with turbines which can be operated by the run off from wells. The cost of gas has also made it possible for entities like hospitals to move away from power utilities and negotiate discount prices for gas.

Don’t forget that gas was really quite expensive in the US around 2001/2002 as there wasn’t a load of it like now.

Read this… It has the history and also why there’s big potential. The oil&gas producers are using the company’s turbines to burn the methane seepage at the wells, thereby reducing methane emissions which really are a problem if a lot of it is released. Burn the crap with Capstone and fugitive methane becomes less of a problem. It’s examples like this why technology will help solve any problems to do with green house gas emissions if indeed they are a problem at all.

The black outs seen in Darwin may well be a regular occurrence in the national capital.

Only 1 percent of electrical power in the NT is generated by renewable sources.

And the length of the black out in some areas highlights renewable stupidity. Something caused the main gas power plant to shut down and it had to be slowly brought up to full capacity with suburbs gradually switched on. So some places had power at 8 am but others not until 2 pm.

Renewable Stupidity! i love it!! Stupidity will always be renewed as long as we have the alp,greens,pup,ambitious”politicians “,universities,a public service and education system full of marxist idiots, the list is endless,thesupply of stupids will never run out!

As a Canberra resident, I need to point out the important role played by The Greens in the political life of the ACT. Whatever they say, you know the opposite to be true. How easy does that make things!

BTW – no-one has mentioned Canberra’s ban on plastic shopping bags. I’m sure there are numerous whales and sea turtles living longer as a direct result. You know it makes sense.

Please, no more goddamn costs for the ACT taxpayer. I already have to fork out a stupid amount of money for annual rates, registration fees, utilities and quarterly landlord tax. That’s right pilgrims – landlord tax. And the money collected goes nowhere near meeting ACT public servant superannuation liabilities, so all things being equal – the ACT is fucked. Two other things worth noting.

1. The rivers of money that flowed into Canberra post-9/11 have been spent. It wasn’t just the central (federal) agencies rolling in cash, it spilled over to each and every department no matter how irrelevant or useless they are. (How Health&Ageing have managed to find sufficient work for their gigantic, over-classified (EL1+) workforce is beyond me, but I’ll leave that to a brighter spark.) Put simply though, the federal money has gone, and yes despite the ACT Government being a useless blight on society, they’re only part of the problem. Federal money was what brought on the culture of largesse.

2. Hare-Clark works against the Liberals. Why? The ACT Liberals are not united in the way Labor are (a huge understatement). People associated with Labor depend on the State (or a private equivalent) to pay for them. If there’s money, or the hint of money, then you’ve got an army of trough snufflers standing by to grab power by any means. Fortunately for the ALP’s vast ACT-based gang of witless socialists there exists the Labor affiliated system of clubs. Read poker machines and attendant revenue.

When there’s money to burn it makes for the kind of team-focus that Hare-Clark demands of anyone wanting to win government through it. The Liberals don’t fund raise in a coordinated fashion. You have a lot of individuals raising money for their own campaigns, unwilling to share. Which ironically means an ACT Liberal Government would be made up of a bunch of individuals interested solely in the trappings and power of office, rather than a team with a primary focus on delivering more effective government.

Really though, the sooner the ACT ‘self government’ experiment is ended, the better.

This is the same administration that wants to build a silly light rail along Northbourne Avenue

The original Canberra railway station was in Garema Place, Civic, and the line ended at marshalling yards in Braddon (with stations at Reid and Russell). The railway bridge over the Molongo was washed away in floods in the 1920s and was never rebuilt, so the line still terminates at Kingston. I would like to see the line extended all the way up Northbourne Avenue provided only coal burning steam trains were allowed.

Rabz – good luck, you’ll need it. I don’t rate Seselja. At all. He lacked the capability to unite the ACT Liberals but could do the numbers on Humphries. So he has the low cunning of the self-interested but is tits on a bull for those of us paying for Labor’s dreamtime. I expect he will keep an even lower profile than Humphries, but without Humphries’ interest/involvement in policy. That is, he’ll greet you politely, make all the right sounds, and then promptly forget you exist the moment you leave his office.

Meanwhile we’ve now got Jeremy-we’re-not-planning-any-policy-before-we-win-government-Hanson, who apart from winning government doesn’t really have any plans what he’ll do. I think the best option would be the formation of a new party with a very carefully articulated, and detailed plan for transitioning to a city state arrangement, with zero income tax, no service delivery responsibilities, and a return to the umbrella of the Commonwealth.

2. Hare-Clark works against the Liberals. Why? The ACT Liberals are not united in the way Labor are (a huge understatement). People associated with Labor depend on the State (or a private equivalent) to pay for them. If there’s money, or the hint of money, then you’ve got an army of trough snufflers standing by to grab power by any means. Fortunately for the ALP’s vast ACT-based gang of witless socialists there exists the Labor affiliated system of clubs. Read poker machines and attendant revenue.

That’s a lack of leadership and discipline, not the result of a voting system.

That’s a lack of leadership and discipline, not the result of a voting system.

Driftforge

Yes, you’re right. I’ve had a bit to do with them (the Liberals) at the branch level and there is simply no understanding and certainly no awareness of the importance of unity. Squabbling and infighting is endemic in politics, but pair it with a lack of financial resource and Hare-Clark and a hand-out mentality in the electorate (see also: Tasmania); if you’re on the conservative side of politics you’re in a for a long, long hiding. (I know the polls are looking good for Hodgman but I wouldn’t be betting on a majority Liberal government there.)

In a way the ACT is like that little uber-rich enclave in East Melbourne next to the MCG that traditionally records the highest % vote for the Greens each election. The fuckers can vote that way because they’re wealthy enough that it doesn’t matter. Taking into account the public service now pays itself on average a higher wage than the private sector it’s no wonder ACT Labor keep getting voted back in. Everyone’s on the take.

Nearly forgot- I finally saw the skywhale! It was floating around this morning as part of the hot air balloon festival.

Rabz

Have you seen Hugh Jackman’s character in Movie43? I’m not saying anything but to be honest Skywhale kinda looks like a copyright infringement. See:

I tell no lies.

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Liberty Quotes

Government now penetrates almost every institution in society and through its vast money power has already corroded our federal system and our public debate. Few will speak against the government of the day for fear of loss of benefit or threat of political retribution.— David Kemp